doyle



(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet l.

J.- DOYLE. PIANO FORTE.

No. 293,855. Patented Feb. '19, 1884.

(No Model.) 5 SheetsSheet 2.

J. DOYLE.

PIANO FORTE.

No. 293,855. x Patented Feb. 19,1884.

VENTOBL WITNESSES imamzs.

5 Sheets Sheet 3. J. DOYLE.

PIANO FORTE (No Model.)

No. 293,855. Patented Feb. 19,1884.

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

J. DOYLE.

PIANO FORTE.

No. 293,855. Patented Feb. 19, 1884.

I i l I I I l T l I I I WITNESSES:

I mwfi N PETERS. mwum m m Washington. m;

5 SheetsShe et 5.

(No Model.)

J.DOYLE.

PIANO FORTE.

No. 293,855. Patented Feb. 19,1884.

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WITNESSES fyz ' TTORNEYS.

UNITED Sratrns JOSEPH DOYLE, OF MOUNT LIBERTY, IXDIAXA.

PlANG-FGRTE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 293,855, dateglFebruaiy 19, 1884.

Application filed June 8, 1583. (N0 model.)

T0 (0 whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OSEPII DOYLE, of Mount Liberty, in the county ofBrown and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in PianoFortes; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form apart of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a front view of myimproved piano-forte with part of the casing removed. Fig. 2 is avertical cross-section of the same. Fig. 3 is a front view of thestringed frame and the sounding-board. Fig. & is a rear view of theframe with the back of the casing broken away, showing the bridge andthe wrest-plank. Fig. 5 is a bottom view of one of the keys. Fig. 6 is adetail view of the fastening for the keys, and'Fig. 7 is a detail viewof the action. Fig. 8 is a rear view of the damper-operating mechanismseen from the strings, looking forward, the action and the keys beingremoved; and Fig 9 is a vertical sectional View on line no :r, Fig. at,showing the damper-frame in section and the operating mechanism in sideview.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

My invention has relation to upright pianofortes; and it consists in theimproved con struction, combination, and arrangement of parts of aninstrument of that class which will occupy but little space, possess astrong tone, and be durable and inexpensive of manufacture, ashereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter A indicates the outer casing ofthe instrument, and the rear portion of this casing incloses arectangular upright frame, B, having at equal intervals two, or more orless, upright stair chions, O, which serve to, brace the frame againstthe strain upon the same caused by the strings. The bridges D and E passdivergently from the treble side of the instrument between the' sidepieces of the frame,=the ends at the bass side reaching nearly totheextreme ends of the side; piece of the frame, and the said bridges,of which the upper one, D, forms the wrest-plank, are slightly curved,starting from points at equal distances from the ends of the side pieceat the treble side of the instrument, and fastened to the frame at thebass side at equal distances from the ends of that side piece, and therear faces ofthe bridges are covered and connected to the top and bottompieces of the frame by thin boards F, the grain of which runs in atransverse direction to the piano, and these boards and the bridges aresecured to the stanchions C by means of glue and screws, forming asecure union between them. The entire front of the frame 13 and thebridgesis covered by the sounding-board G, which is of heavier boardthan usually employed for this purpose, and the grain of which runsvertically, so as to offer resistance to the strain of the strings, andahorizontal row of small apertures, II, is bored in the soundingboard,which, without affecting the strength of the board materially, will emitthe soundwaves from the space in the sound-box, one hole being betweeneach string, and the row being equidistant from both bridges. A thinnersounding-board, I, is fastened transversely across the heavier board,its ends being fastened to the side pieces of the frame and its grainrunning transversely t0 the instrument, and it serves to strengthen thetone of the in strument, in addition to the heavier soundingboard, thusproducing very strong tones out of an instrument occupying but verylittle space.

J are the strings,which are doubled, fastened at their ends to thewrest-pins Ii, and passed around the studs L upon the lower bridge, thewrest-pins and the studs passing through the heavy sounding-board intothe wrest-plank and the lower bridge, and the thin soundingboard liesexactly across the center of the un der side of the strings, slightlyabove the points where the hammers strike the strings. Each pair ofstrings, which are tuned in unison, rests at its upper and lower endinside the wrest-pins, and the studs upon small bridges or agraffes M,formed by a strip of spring-steel bent to form bulge at its center, andhaving two shallow notches, N, in its upper surface, in which thestrings rest. These metallic bridges serve to give the strings a clearround 2 access tone, their, springine'ss adapting them espe-' cially toconvey the vibrations of the strings to the sounding-board, and at thesame time to slightly cushion or yield to the severe strain of thestrings, taking a certain amount of the strain away from the bridges andtheir supporting-stanchions. The keys P are arranged at the height'andorder usual in upright pianos 5 but in place of being pivoted upon wiresor lugs, as usually is the case, they rest with their inner ends, whichare notched from the under side, as shown at 0, upon a bridge or plank,

Q, which is covered with felt or other soft yielding textile material,while their ends inside the notch are notched vertically at B,

into which notches thin upright strips S of wood project to guide theinner ends, and the outer ends are notched from the under side,

the said notches T extending to within a short distance of the upperside and to the outer end, as plainly shown in Figs. 5 and 6, and thinupright strips projecting from a plank or bar,

U, in the front portion of the frame, project into these notches andguide the outer ends of the keys. In the under side of the keys, nearthe outer ends of the same, are small holes V,

into which pass wires or pins V, which are inserted into the upper endsof a series of thin light wooden rods, X, the lower ends of which arelikewise provided with similar pins, Y,

both pins being provided at their inner portions with rubber buffers Z,which prevent rattling of the pins. The lower pins project into holes inthe hoppers a of the action, which is arranged upon curved bridges b andc in such a manner that the hammers will all strike at the same distancefrom the lower ends of the strings, the curve of the bridges being thesame as the curve of the lower bridge of the string-frame. The actionfor every key is separate, and is inclosed between two thin boards, cl,which are connected at their lower edges by means of strips, and attheir inner edges by means of strips e, which extend a short distancebelow the lower edges, and are provided with two (more or less)projecting pins, f, which project into corresponding holes in a board,9, which forms an inner wall for the space in which the action isinclosed, The lower outer corner of the small casings formed by theinclosing'boards is provided with downwardly projecting blocks h, thelower ends of which are secured to the front one of the bridges b bymeans of screws 2', and in this manner each separate casing containingthe action for one string may be removed when the front wall of theouter casing of the instrument has been removed. The action consists ofa straight hopper, a, which is pivoted at the lower front corner of thecasing,

and is provided with a notch upon the under side of the outer end, intowhich notch the lower upwardly-bent end of a spring, j, fits,

said bent portion of the spring being lined with felt, buff, or othersoft material, to prevent rattling, and the spring passes thereuponupward, when it is again bent "downward, forming aknee, It, the lowerinwardly-bent end of which is fastened into the outer edge of one of theboards cl. the hopper is provided upon the under side with a strip ofcloth or felt, Z, which prevents it from rattling against the bottomstrip of the casing, and prevents it from rebounding when it strikes thesaid bottom strip; and the upper side of the hopper is likewise coveredwith a strip, m, of cloth or felt, near the inner end, which touches arubber block, a, fastened upon the doubled portion 0 of a spring-wire,p, the upper and lower ends of which are secured in the rear edge of thehammer q, the said spring being bent near its lower end to form thedoubled portion. The hammer consists of a straight piece, 0-, of lightwood, the lower end of which forms a flat cam, s, pointing inward, andthrough the lower portion of which the pint, upon which it is pivoted,passes. The head it of the hammer consists of a straight piece of woodfastened at one end to the inner end of the piece 1', and having at itsouter end a transverse groove, 12, and a notch, w, in the under side,the said groove serving to receive a roll of cloth or felt, x, which isheld in place by a string or cord, g which passes through the center ofthe roll and is inserted into the notch, the said roll serving to touchthe string when the hammer is struck by the hopper. A strip, 2, oftextile material, is attached to the upper end of the hammer and to theupper edge of the casing d d, and prevents the hammer from flying toofar back from the strings.

The damper A consists of a straight stick, B, of light wood, pivoted atthe upper edge of the casing, and the lower end of the same bearsagainst the rounded edge of the cam s,

forced by a bent spring, 0, which bears with one end against the stickslightly below the pivotal point, while its doubled portion forms aspiral coil, and its other end bears against and is fastened into thestrip, forming the inner end of the casing. Upon the upper end of thestick is a zigzag-bent spring, D, upon the outer end of which thedamping cloth or felt E is fastened, which bears against the stringafter the hammer has struck it, damping or suppressing the tone andpreventing it from sounding too long time after it hasbeen struck. Itwill be seen that when the key is struck the vertical rod will rock thehopper, which will lift the hammer, and the cam upon the hammer willbear against the lower end of the damper-stick and lift the damper fromthe string, and upon the finger being removed from the key the springupon the damper will force the damper against the string and the hammerback, while the spring j will raise the hopper, allowing the hammer tofall back and raising the key, and it will be seen that the lower end ofthe damper-stick bearing against the cam upon the lower end of thehammer will raise the hammer the moment it has struck the string a shortdistance from.

The inner portion of IOO IIO

ceases the same, allowing it to be struck immediately afterward. Thekeys may be marked with small plates F, of glass or other material, andthe said plates are marked with the name of the note to which itbelongs, thus making it easier for beginners to find the right notes. Arectangular frame, G, is pivoted at its ends in bearings upon the sidesof the stringed frame, and the inner surfaces of its side pieces arecovered with cloth or felt, and may be brought to bear against thestrings, when tilted, in such a manner that when the upper side piece isbrought to bear against the strings it will bear against the center ofthe same and cause them to give a tone one octave higher than theiroriginal tone when struck, whilethe lower side piece, when brought tobear against the strings, will damp the sound without having anyinfluence upon the pitch of the notes. The outer cushioned end of aspring, H, which is fastened upon the rear bridge of the key-board,bears against the upper portion of the frame G, and the frame isoperated by a cross-head, 1, upon a rockshaft, J, which rocks inbearings upon the rear bridge of the key-board, and has an arm, K, uponits outer end, which is connected to the upper end of an upright rod, L,the lower end of which is hinged to the outer end of a lever, 31,pivoted upon a pin or bolt in the center of the instrument, and theinner ends of two pedals, N and O, pivoted in the usual manner at thecenter of the instrument, bear against the under side of the lever, oneupon each side of the pivotal point of the same, in such a manner thatthe lever will be rocked when one of the pedals is depressed, which willrock the rock-shaft J and press either side piece of the frame againstthe strings.

To make access easy to the strings and to the action of the instrument,the front board, P", is hinged at one side and may be opened like adoor, while it has suitable fastenings at its free end, giving, whenopened, access to the action, while the portion of the casing Q whichcontains the action is hinged to the side of the stringed frame and maybe swung out, giving access to the strings, and is secured at its freeend by suitable means.

The remaining portions of the casing are removable, as in the usualconstruction of upright piano-fortes, and slide in grooves.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States 1. In an upright pianoi'orte, thecombination of the upright rectangular frame in the rear portion of thecasing, the upright stanchions, the bridge and the wrestplank, extendingin two divergent curves from near the middle of the side piece of theframe at the treble side to near the ends of the side piece at the bassside, and having their rear surfaces connected with the upper and lowerside pieces of the frame by the thin boards, as described, the thicksounding-board having the transverse series of perforations at itscenter, and the thin sounding-board fastened across the center of thethick sounding-board, as and for the purpose shown and set forth.

2. The bridges or agraifes, each consisting of a small strip ofspringsteel bent to form a transverse bulge at the center, and adaptedto support the strings at their -ends, as and for the purpose shown anddescribed.

3. The bridge or agraffe consisting of a small strip of springsteel bentto form a transverse bulge at the center, and having the longitudinalnotches upon the upper surface of the bulge, and adapted to support thestrings at their ends, each string resting in one of the notches, as andfor the purpose shown and set forth.

i. The combination of the upright casing, open at the top and at thefront side, in which the action is pivoted, the straight hopper havingthe notch in its lower edge pivoted in the front portion of the uprightcasing, and having the felt strips upon the upper and lower edge of itsinner end, the hammer having the eccentric cam at its lower end, atwhich it is pivoted, and having the wire spring bent double at its lowerend, forming a projecting arm provided with a rubber head and fastenedat the upper and lower end of the hammer, and having the strip of clothattached to the top of the hammer and to the upper edge of one of thesides of the casing, the bent wire spring fastened to the front edge ofone of the sides of the casing and passing under the outer end of thehopper, resting in the notch in the same, with its lined hooked freeend, and the damper consisting of a straight stick pivoted. at the upperedge of the upright casing, and having the zigzag-bent wire at its upperend, upon which the damper-pad is fastened, as and for the purpose shownand set forth.

The hammer having the straight head having the transverse notch orrecess at its outer end and the transverse notch cut from its under sidenear the outer end, and provided with the roll of textile materialplaced in the transverse recess, and held in place by the string or cordpassing through the center of the roll and into the notch in the underside of the head, as and for the purpose shown and set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereuntoaflixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

- JOSEPH DOYLE.

Witnesses:

JOHN Lliwnrn, RICHARD A. EDDY.

